Daily Archives: July 11, 2017

Dr Austin Tam-George, former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication

Austin Tam-George, a former Rivers State commissioner for information and communication, has taken legal action against the publishers of ThisDay Newspapers for attributing a statement to him, which he said he never made. Dr Austin Tam-George In a report titled “Wike and the Trouble Within” published by ThisDay on Sunday, July 9, 2017, Dr. Tam-George was quoted as having said: “[Governor Nyesom] Wike does not have any good dream for Rivers State. Commissioners serving under Governor Wike can no longer pay the school fees of their wards, Governor Wike is running a one-man-show government and I’ve decided not to be part of such government again.” But in a letter to ThisDay, through his lawyers, Adegboruwa and Co., a prominent law firm in Lagos, the former commissioner said the statement was a malicious and deliberate fabrication intended to damage his reputation. Tam-George demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the newspaper. The former commissioner, who was once an Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellow, and lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is also demanding N500 million in damages from the newspaper. Continue reading

Living conditions in the Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) in Adamawa State for many is wrought with so many challenges, from inadequate food rations to poor sanitation facilities. The insurgency in the North- East has taken a toll on the socio-economic activities of the people in the area. Many people have fled their homes for fear of their safety because of the series of attacks suffered in the hands of Boko Haram. Their villages have been pillaged and countless number of women raped. About 13,000 lives have been lost to the insurgency including women and children who have been the most vulnerable group.

However, the Nigerian military seems to be winning the war against the terrorist sect. For many years, the terrorist group has terrorized the people of the North East, but the Army have reduced their capacity to wreck havoc and curtailed their sinister attacks.

Victims of the terrorist attacks have been taken to the IDP camp for safety from Boko Haram. Villages, such as Madagali, Gulak, Chibok, Gworza etc have been seriously affected by the dastard acts of Boko Haram. It reminds one of the popular Chibok girls story where over 200 school girls were kidnapped by the group, though some of them were recently released by Boko Haram in exchange for some of their fighters by the government.

Yola tower.

The situation has left behind socio-economic and psychological impacts on the inhabitants of the area because of inadequate supply of food and medical support services by Government and aid agencies in the IDP camp leaving many children to suffer hunger, malnutrition and depression. There has been several reports of hunger related deaths coming from the camp as a result of the shortage of food. Many of the inhabitants have been forced to go to other areas, such as Jimeta in Yola the State capital of Adamawa State in search of food.

The IDP’s are faced with shortages in food, water, health and sanitation services. There is need for more socio-economic support for the IDP population. Continue reading

A US Marine tied to the “Marines United” Facebook group was court-martialed last month, the first to face trial in relation to the scandal involving the non-consensual sharing of explicit images which came to light in March.

On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom talks to Charles Sauer of the Market Institute and Dave McCulloch of Capitol Media Partners about Trump’s call for an investigation into so-called voter fraud, and the president’s plan to life a ban on black site prisons, where terror suspects were detained and tortured. Then, Thom discusses the anti-Trump movement and infrastructure in the U.S. with Richard Eskow, radio host and senior fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future.

For more information on the stories we’ve covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com and freespeech.org

You can also watch tonight’s show on Hulu and over at The Big Picture YouTube page.